MARMET METEORITES

WHAT IS A METEORITE ?

Home
NEW! NHM Bern: Meteorites from Oman
WHAT IS A METEORITE ?
CLASSIFICATION OF METEORITES
THE COLORFUL WORLD OF THIN SECTIONS
THIN SECTIONS - PART 2
HISTORIC METEORITES 1: Switzerland, Germany, Austria.
HISTORIC METEORITES 2: France: 1492-1841
HISTORIC METEORITES 3: France: 1842-1934
HISTORIC METEORITES 4: England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland.
HISTORIC METEORITES 5: Italy, Spain.
HISTORIC METEORITES 6: Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Norway.
HISTORIC METEORITES 7: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine
HISTORIC METEORITES 8: Romaina, Serbia, Croatia, Estonia, Bosnia-Herzeg.
HISTORIC INDIAN METEORITES
PETER MARMET METEORITE COLLECTION - US falls / finds
H. H. NININGER and Canyon Diablo
From MOON and MARS
FAMOUS IRON METEORITES
Libyan Desert Glass
Meteorites from Antarctica
The Allende Meteorite (Mexico)
The Hoba Meteorite (Namibia)
PING PONG IN SPACE
MUNICH 2004
MUNICH 2005
MUNICH 2006
MUNICH 2007
ENSISHEIM METEORITE 2005 part 1
ENSISHEIM METEORITE 2005 part 2
ENSISHEIM METEORITE 2006 part 1
ENSISHEIM METEORITE 2006 part 2
ENSISHEIM METEORITE 2007 part 1
ENSISHEIM METEORITE 2007 part 2
ENSISHEIM METEORITE 2008 Part 1
ENSISHEIM METEORITE 2008 Part 2
Ensisheim Meteorite 2009 part 1
Ensisheim Meteorite 2009 part 2
ENSISHEIM 2010
Ensisheim 2011

sikhotealin123.jpg
Sikhote-Alin, Iron Meteorite, 69.1 g

Rocks from Space
Steine des Himmels
(Deutscher Text: siehe unten!)

Most people are familiar with the term "shooting star". Actually, it is not a star shooting across the sky, but a small piece of solid matter called a meteoroid colliding with the atmosphere.


As the meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, the friction created by its incoming velocity causes its surface to heat up, and the brilliant flash of light records the passage of a meteor. Should the object survive this firey plunge through the atmosphere and hit the ground, it then becomes a meteorite.


Most meteorites are fragments of asteroids that broke apart long ago in the asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter. Such fragments orbit the Sun for some time - millions of years - before colliding with Earth. Very few meteorites come from Mars and our Moon, some might even come from a Comet.



(German version)
Die meisten Leute kennen das Wort «Sternschnuppe». Diese Objekte sind aber keinesfalls Sterne, sondern kleine Stücke, Meteoriden genannt und sie kollidieren mit der Erdatmosphäre.

Durch die hohe Geschwindigkeit und die Reibung in der Atmosphäre beginnen sie zu glühen und sie können - obwohl meist sehr klein - weithin gesehen werden. Falls Teile davon die Reise durch die Atmosphäre überstehen und die Erde erreichen, nennt man sie Meteorite.

Die meisten Meteorite sind Fragmente, die vor langer Zeit im Asteriodengürtel - zwischen Mars und Jupiter - auseinander gebrochen sind. Die Fragmente umkreisen die Sonne während Millionen von Jahren bis sie eines Tages auf unsere Erde stürzen. Einige wenige Meteoriten stammen von Mars und Erdmond.

c.jpg

50000 years ago an iron meteorite - about 30 m in diameter - struck the Earth. The resulting explosion created a crater 1500 m in diameter and 180 m deep.
This crater is called «Barringer Meteorite Crater» or «Meteor Crater».
Meteorites that survived the impact had been found around the crater and are called «Canyon Diablo» meteorites.

For questions please write to: p.marmet@thinsections.ch